31 Feared Dead In Dutch Crash

September 25, 1996

A 55-year-old plane carrying 32 people crashed into the Wadden Sea outside Den Helder, Netherlands, Wednesday. One survivor was pulled from the water and the rest were feared dead, a naval spokesman said. A coast guard rescue worker told Dutch television news that bodies were being taken from the sea, still strapped in their seats, and transported to a mortuary. Twenty bodies were recovered initially, and the search was continuing, the coast guard reported. The DC-3 Dakota plane, the only one of its type still flying in the Netherlands, was owned by the Dutch Dakota Association, which used it for pleasure flights, Dutch TV reported. The plane was reportedly trying to land because of unspecified trouble with one of its engines, said Lt. Col. Jaap van der Waal of the Den Helder naval base, about 40 miles north of Amsterdam.